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Nature, Published online: 27 October 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03404-5

The Nobel prize in economic science has a serious gender problem

Nature, Published online: 27 October 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03388-2

Output of the greenhouse gas from the Permian Basin has remained near constant over a period during which oil and gas production tripled.

Nature, Published online: 27 October 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03407-2

AI-hallucinated citations should be treated as research misconduct

Nature, Published online: 27 October 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03405-4

Short-term academic visits to China could sustain ties

Nature, Published online: 27 October 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03276-9

How forming internal imagery is amusing but tiring, and the worry induced by lists of chemicals in foods, in this week’s pick from the Nature archive.

A new clinical trial suggests that a simple daily fiber supplement could significantly reduce knee osteoarthritis pain, improve muscle strength, and make the body less sensitive to pain. Researchers discovered that the benefits may be linked to changes in gut bacteria and the hormone GLP-1, revealing a promising new approach to arthritis relief.

A major new study reveals that autistic children’s brains process faces differently, and those differences may begin earlier than scientists previously thought. Researchers found that brain signals associated with recognizing faces become more specialized as neurotypical children grow older, but show much less change in autistic children. The discovery could help explain why some autistic people have difficulty recognizing faces and reading emotions.

The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs may have set the stage for ants to conquer the planet, with a surprising boost from “jumping genes” hidden in their DNA. Scientists discovered that bursts of activity from these mobile genetic elements coincided with the rise of major ant groups and may have helped sharpen their extraordinary ability to communicate through smell.

Scientists at McGill University have discovered a surprising new ability of immune cells that could change how we understand long-term immunity. Researchers found that T cells can actually sense how stiff their surrounding tissues are, using these physical signals to help determine whether they develop into long-lasting memory cells that protect against future infections.

The secret to aging more slowly may be hiding in your gut. Scientists discovered that certain gut bacteria are strongly linked to how quickly the body ages, with microbial differences accounting for about 15% of the variation in biological aging rates. Some bacterial species were associated with slower aging, while others were linked to accelerated aging.

A pale-yellow fungus up to 50 cm (20 inches) tall, growing from the roots of dying trees in China’s Yunnan province, belongs to a lineage that may have originated in the aftermath of the dinosaur extinction.

The post D. rex: Giant New Fungus Species Discovered in China appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

TOI-561b, a rocky exoplanet so close to its parent star that its year lasts just over 10 hours, may be wrapped in a thick, reflective atmosphere, according to a new analysis of data gathered by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.

The post Lava World TOI-561b May Have Reflective, Cloudy Atmosphere appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A partial dinosaur skeleton unearthed in a Surrey brickworks in 2001 has been identified as a previously unknown genus and species of an early-diverging hadrosauroid iguanodontian.

The post New Species of Iguanodontian Dinosaur Discovered in England appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Concornis lacustris, a small enantiornithine bird that lived alongside dinosaurs more than 100 million years ago, has received a life-size makeover, thanks to a reconstruction that combines fossil evidence, digital modeling and traditional sculpture.

The post Paleontologists Reconstruct Cretaceous Bird in Remarkable Detail appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Paleontologists have described what they say is the first fully marine species of a stem amphibian, Gerrothorax maritimus, based on two nearly complete skeletons from the Late Triassic epoch of China.

The post Armored Amphibian from Triassic Period is First Known to Have Lived Entirely in the Sea appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Superconducting cables connect quantum bits on different chips, but improvements are still needed

Study adds to mounting evidence that traumatic experiences can negatively impact health years—or even decades—later

As AI firms churn out math breakthroughs, researchers question use of Lean software as proof checker

mRNA vaccine from Merck and Moderna slashes risk of melanoma’s return, but why remains unclear

Deaths can be prevented by regulating when wind turbines operate, scientists say

Sickle cell disease is the most common haemoglobinopathy, affecting more than 7 million people worldwide.1 Despite substantial morbidity and mortality, access to effective disease-modifying therapies remains limited.2,3 Hydroxyurea and chronic blood transfusions have both been shown to reduce acute sickle cell disease complications, including vaso-occlusive crises and stroke, while also improving haematological parameters.4,5 However, the availability and long-term feasibility of both could be limited in some settings.

“WHO is a retirement home...We must reinvent multilateralism...We must be more candid with one another...We do not spend enough time talking with people who totally disagree with us...I have seen very few SDG badges...On trust, AI will not help...The paradox of using a product of science to disseminate anti-science...It's super-important we don't get infected by the negativity.” These were some of the reflections exchanged during a meeting, held under the Chatham House Rule, at last week's World Health Summit in Berlin.

Russia's invasion and continued conflict have damaged facilities and led to workforce shortages. Ed Holt reports.

Latvia has one of the world's highest rates of alcohol consumption but recent policy changes are starting to lessen direct harms to health. Ed Holt reports.

Far-right movements in many countries are fuelling xenophobia and racism and gaining traction through policy and media. By conflating equity with equality in their attacks on initiatives to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion, these movements are weaponising equality to foster societal division. In this context, Anti-Racist Medicine: An Essential Guide to Advancing Equity in Medical Education, Research, Technology, Policy, and Practice, edited by doctor and philosopher Zeshan Qureshi (University of Cambridge, UK) and medically trained bioethicist Mehrunisha Suleman (University of Oxford, UK), with Joseph L Graves Jr as an associate editor, is a timely book that challenges the racist narratives and misconceptions that have been instilled in medicine.

In early 2026, the University of Illinois Division of Public Safety was facing a challenge. It had 11 security guards it planned to convert to community service officers, which meant they would change from being based in one building to working a whole beat.

A review of the research literature spanning the years 2020 to 2026 has found that digital technologies, additive manufacturing and resource recovery are major themes in the transition toward a sustainable, circular economy. The work, published in the International Journal of Services and Operations Management, highlights the need for more cooperation between businesses and other stakeholders and for better governmental policies to ease the transition.

From Alaska to Texas, the battle for control of the U.S. Senate is unfolding across 35 races. And a new Northwestern University election model is tracking them all—every 10 minutes.

Halloween, the fall holiday and $13.5 billion industry, lurks around the corner.

Invasive alien brambles have been spreading across South Africa since the early 1900s, having come from North America and Europe. All brambles fall within the genus Rubus. Their common names in South Africa are braam (Afrikaans), ijingijolo (isiZulu) and monoko-metsi (seSotho).

New brain-computer interfaces turn attempted speech into words and can speak them in a voice resembling the user’s own.

Guidelines for designing coasters don’t reflect the latest science about what types of movement the brain can withstand.

Farmers in Yunnan Province, China, alerted researchers to the humongous fungus. Dianjunus rex’s mushrooms stand at half a meter tall.

Volcanoes have cast a shadow over climate and history. Cold spurts after eruptions may have spurred famine, disease, revolts and other events.

Anthropic says Claude helped a scientist plan potentially risky bird flu research, a case that highlights questions about AI’s growing role in biology.